I was tired of looking at those ugly old tree stumps. I hoped that pulling those stumps would be an easy task. Usually I would dig around the base of the tree about two feet out from the trunk, and then cut in at an angle and down toward the center. I cut through the roots as I go and eventually the tree would be left with a root ball. I have removed many trees this way and replanted them with great success. In fact one of my first jobs was digging out trees for a well-known Nursery in Las Vegas, Nevada. Of course the larger the tree the larger I would start the cut from the trunk…instead of 2 feet, maybe 3-4 feet.

However these Leyland Cypress trees were dead and dried out, so I expected little resistance from the old roots. I decided to do the pulling using my 1977 Ford F250 with its 400 cu.in. V8. If that did not work then I would get the 1987 Ford F150 4×4 with the inline cylinder engine. If none of the above worked then it was time to dig. The pulling chain was hooked near the top of the stump for more leverage and that worked very well for the first stump pull. However, the second stump was a bit more stubborn and the top broke off. I re-hooked the chain lower which made more pulling resistance for the truck to handle.

The stump finally came out after a 2 foot running jolt to the truck and chain. In retrospect I wish I had used the 4×4 just to see if it would have been able to pull the stump without jolting. Oh well, at least the stumps were removed and they will make good firewood for the winter. Here’s hoping your entire stump pulling goes as well. …Bye for Now!